Cast Cavalleria rusticana

Cast Pagliacci

Nedda

Fiorenza Cedolins

Canio

Marco Berti

Tonio

Marco Vratogna

Beppe

Juan José de León

Silvio

Simone Piazzola

A peasant

Bruno Gaudenzi

Another peasant

Michele Mauro

Notes on performances

New productions at La Scala that have been especially favourably received by audiences have included the pairing of two celebrated one-act operas revisited with staging by director Mario Martone. New and ancient are jumbled together in the setting of Cavalleria, with the brothel, the colossal tree trunk sawn at its base, the audience of chairs in a church, a place of stares and slanderous whispers. Equally poignant is the transposition of Pagliacci into a squalid modern suburb, an encampment of vagrants and carnies at the edge of a highway ramp, perhaps a dead end. This revival of the providential show takes advantage of an exceptionally talented cast of vocalists with Elīna Garanča in Cavalleria and Fiorenza Cedolins and Marco Berti in Pagliacci. The conductor is the internationally renowned specialist of Italian opera, Carlo Rizzi.